


The Escape Room

by chaeturtle_x



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Blood, Death, Gore, M/M, Traps, escape room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-09 22:10:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18647077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaeturtle_x/pseuds/chaeturtle_x
Summary: Doyoung enters the Escape Room with 9 other friends, but there's a twist - not everyone will survive. Doyoung watches his friends die one by one and also discovers that Taeyong - the owner of the Escape Room, has been keeping an eye on him. Will Taeyong spare Doyoung's life or will he perish along with the others? Contains: explicit language, gore and death.





	1. Chapter 1

**Doyoung's POV**

"Hey guys look at this!" Yuta called everyone over to a poster he'd been examining.

I trudged over and muttered aloud as my eyes skimmed over the words.

**THE ESCAPE ROOM**

**10 people vs 10 rooms**

**Have you got what it takes to escape the rooms full of secrets, lies and betrayal?**

**For only £40, you and a group of friends can enter and walk the path that many brave souls have walked before.**

**Be prepared to have your loyalty tested.**

**WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED.**

"An escape room?" Johnny scoffed. "I've done these a million times before, they're so easy."

"You won't mind doing it again then." Yuta shot back.

"We only have nine people though?" I glanced around at our group of friends who had clustered behind me. Along with Yuta and I, there was Johnny, Ten, Mark, Donghyuck, Sicheng, Jaemin and Jeno.

"Not a problem." a man suddenly stepped out of the building we were standing in front of. He had light orange hair and wore a black bow tie on top of a white shirt. "There's a boy in here already wanting to join a group, mind if he joins yours?"

"Who are you?" I asked curiously.

"My name is Taeyong, I own this place along with my friend, Jaehyun."

"Hi I'm Jungwoo, can I join you?" a boy with sparkling eyes and an adorable face stepped out from behind Taeyong.

"Of course." I smiled at him. "Shall we enter then?"

"Let's go!" Jaemin ran inside with Jeno on his heels.

"This is lame." Johnny muttered but followed everyone inside.

I handed the money to Taeyong, who smiled brightly at me as he stamped something on my hand.

"Mind calling over your friends to be stamped, pretty boy?"

I blushed but called over everyone before looking down at the stamp mark.

_Be careful who you trust._

What the hell was that supposed to mean? I grabbed Jaemin's hand and looked at the black ink that spread across his hand.

_You're fucked._

"What the fuck?!" Jaemin yelled and pulled Jeno over. "What does yours say?"

"Choose between love and survival _._ " Jeno looked up with a confused expression.

"These are stupid." Jaemin muttered and attempted to rub off the stamp.

I glanced up at Taeyong who'd finished stamping everyone and was smiling at me. He winked before walking around the counter to a large set of double doors.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes!" we all chorused.

Adrenaline was rushing through my veins due to the mix of nervousness and excitement. I was definitely one of the smartest among my group of friends so there was no doubt they'd rely on me.

"Good luck, I hope you survive." Taeyong whispered to me as I walked past him. I turned and saw a smirk flash across his face before the doors slammed closed behind me. I wanted to ask him what he meant but he obviously had no plans on explaining his words.

"So, what do we do?" Donghyuck sat down on a dusty looking table in the middle of the room.

"Greetings." Taeyong's voice boomed through the speaker system. "Welcome to the first room out of ten. You have thirty minutes to find your way to the next room, otherwise there will be... consequences."

"What consequences?!" Sicheng asked worriedly but the TV screen over the top of the doors turned on to show a countdown.

"Shit, we need to start looking for clues." Jaemin ran around looking for things which could relate to our first quest.

Ten had other ideas as he walked up to Jungwoo and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Don't I know you?" Ten cocked his head to the side.

"I-I go to your school." Jungwoo stuttered.

"Really? I think I saw you on TV..."

"No, I really do go to your school."

The longer I stared at Jungwoo, the more I realised Ten was right. He looked awfully familiar but I couldn't quite place my finger on it...

"Doyoung are you going to help us or not?" Yuta hissed bringing me out of my daze.

"Oh sure." I muttered before almost slipping on a wet substance on the floor.

"Is that blood?!" Yuta took the words right out of my mouth when I lifted my foot up to see the red liquid covering my shoe.

"No way, stop joking around Yuta." Sicheng whined.

"It really does look like blood." I muttered as I moved a finger forwards to touch the substance.

Yuta grabbed my hand. "Don't touch it."

His face was deadly serious, making me nod in agreement before placing my foot back down.

"Even though we don't know each other, I hope you will put your faith in me and trust me." Jungwoo said loudly, making us look at him in surprise.

"What's there to trust? Escape rooms are piss easy." Johnny scoffed.

I zoned out once again, the red countdown flashing in the corner of my eye. I glanced down at my hand where the words stood out bolder than ever. On top of that I couldn't stop thinking about what Taeyong's last words to me were.

_"I hope you survive."_


	2. Chapter 2

**Doyoung's POV**

"Wait, your name is Jungwoo right?" Ten had spent the past five minutes leaning against a dusty bookshelf and squinting at Jungwoo.

"Yes?"

"Didn't there used to be a Jungwoo at our school?"

"That's why he said he goes to our school stupid." Yuta snapped. "Stop lounging around and help us find the objects to answer this riddle."

"What was the riddle again?" Sicheng asked softly, his body pushed against Yuta's and his head resting on his shoulder.

"Item 1: It's only the beginning, the limitless me. From the start of the East to the end of the West. Item 2-"

"I remember a few years ago there was this huge ordeal about a boy at our school being murdered, I-"

"Shut up." Yuta interrupted Ten's ramblings. "Item 2:  _blank_ reaction, the _blank_ spreads, _blank_  reaction. From here on, the world is connecting. Ite-"

"IT WAS JUNGWOO!" Ten yelled in exasperation. "Jungwoo got murdered years ago, that's why he looks so familiar!"

Jaemin whimpered and clung onto Jeno's arm. "I think he's right."

"I-I don't understand." Jungwoo laughed nervously. "I'm here aren't I? I think you mistook me for someone else."

"No..." I looked up from the table I'd been staring at while sorting through my thoughts. "It was definitely you."

I don't know what compelled me to say such a bold statement to a boy I'd just met but I had a feeling it wasn't just a coincidence that Jungwoo had conveniently been here to join our group.

"Well done." the speaker system crackled slightly, causing us to jump and look up at the ceiling even though only Taeyong's voice could be heard and we couldn't see his face. "You're the first group to recognise Jungwoo as the boy who was brutally murdered by his own parents."

Yuta frowned, his lips pursed as if he was thinking really hard. "So... you brought in an actor that looks like Jungwoo to scare us in this escape room?"

"No." a faint laugh was heard which I could only guess was Jaehyun, the other owner.

"What's going on?" I turned to Jungwoo, hoping he had an explanation for what was going on and hoping we hadn't just walked into a death trap.

His lip wobbled and he opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Taeyong.

"Sorry boys, I forgot to mention that you'll be in here for a while, it was written in the small print though." he laughed loudly at the end. "I hope you said your farewells to your families, some of you won't be escaping."

"What the fuck do you mean we'll be in here for a while? Are you a psychopath or something? Stop scaring us, you could seriously trigger someone." Johnny snapped.

"Yeah not funny man." Mark added.

"Guys, I think we should be more worried about the fact he said some of us might not escape." Donghyuck trembled.

"He's just joking Hyuck, don't worry I'll fuck him up when we get out of here." Johnny glared up at the camera that was watching us.

Taeyong sniggered. "I wasn't joking  _Johnny,_ you're a feisty one - I like you."

"How does this freak know my name?"

"I won't tell you who I am at the moment, that'll only ruin the fun. I'll let you figure it out on your own. Doyoung seems like a smart boy, I'm sure he has his theories. However, I suggest you look at the riddle and work out what the last item is which is needed to open the door to the next room. Maybe that'll give you an idea of how fucked up I am."

"Yuta?" Jeno asked tentatively.

"Blood."

"What?"

"Blood is the last thing needed to open the door." Yuta whispered and passed me the sheet of paper.

I skimmed the note and sure enough, the answer was clear as day. Someone would have to bleed for us to enter the next room.

"Please tell me this is just a bad dream." Jaemin begged. "I'm actually lying in my cosy bed with my arms wrapped around Jeno and I'll wake up any second now..."

He closed his eyes tightly and pinched himself before slowly opening one eye.

"I'm doomed~" he wailed.

Jeno attempted to comfort his boyfriend who appeared to be having a panic attack while I glared up at the camera.

"What kind of sick joke is this? You expect one of us to give blood to the door in order for us to proceed? Are you out of your mind?"

"Probably." Taeyong replied.

I felt anger burn in my chest at his nonchalant answer.

"10 minutes remaining."

"It's okay, it's probably just a small amount of blood." I tried to reassure the others. "I'll give him the damn blood this time."

I walked over to the door where I noticed a beaker placed inside a cavity. I pulled it out and noticed a line drawn with black marker pen on the 100ml measurement.

"100ml?" my eyes widened, that was a lot more blood than I was willing to give away.

"How much do you need to give Doyoung?" Mark called from behind me.

I turned slowly and shakily revealed the beaker to the others. "100ml..."

"This is so messed up." Ten said angrily. "What if we refuse to complete the task?"

"Then one of you will die."

"Take Jungwoo." Yuta pushed the boy towards the door we came in through. "We hardly know him so who cares if he dies right?"

"YUTA!" Sicheng snapped. "We can't sacrifice him just because we don't know him."

"Sicheng is right." Johnny said. "I still don't understand how Jungwoo is here with us."

"I'll explain that later." Taeyong said. "But I'm waiting Doyoung, there's a knife somewhere in this room and the others should get to work finding the other two items otherwise I'll pick one of you at random to die."

"Find the items guys." I said tiredly and started to search for the knife.

"You don't have to do this." Johnny grabbed my arm, almost causing me to drop the beaker. "We can call the police, why didn't I think of that earlier? Oh fuck- there's no signal. Let's just refuse to do the task and then when Taeyong comes in to kill one of us we can run at him and kill him instead!"

I looked at Johnny who was desperately rambling and shaking my arm.

"I've got this." I reassured him. "A little blood loss won't hurt and I need you guys to be strong for the next levels, we don't know how gruesome it's going to become. I would prefer it if all of us get out alive, wouldn't you?"

He nodded and gulped. "We owe you big time."

I smiled weakly before spotting the knife sitting on the top shelf of the bookcase.

"Found it." I removed his hand from my arm and reached up to grab the blade. "Here goes nothing."


	3. Chapter 3

**Doyoung's POV**

I gritted my teeth as I sliced the knife across my palm. I clenched my hand into a fist and watched as the blood slowly dripped into the beaker.

"This hurts like a bitch." I grumbled.

"I think I found one of the items?" Jaemin announced. "It's a compass and the riddle mentioned East and West so... this could be it?"

"My Jaemin is so smart." Jeno praised.

"Wow who knew Jaemin had something else in his brain other than thoughts of Jeno?" Yuta laughed in an attempt to make light of the situation.

"Good job Jaemin." I said and sent my foot flying towards Yuta's leg.

"Ouch!" he hissed.

His expression immediately turned apologetic when he glanced down at the blood before turning away and gripping onto Sicheng's shirt.

"Is there a slot in the door for it?" Ten questioned and took the compass from Jaemin. He moved to the door and slotted it into a small hole before standing back triumphantly.

The blood was filling up the container extremely slowly and my eyes were erratically flicking between the beaker and the time.

"5 minutes left." Mark said nervously.

I groaned in frustration and opened my hand, trying not to cringe at the crimson that covered my fingers. I cried out as I sliced a few more times into my palm and squeezed the blood out as fast as I could.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Donghyuck held a hand to his mouth.

"Stop fucking looking then." I snapped.

"Nearly there Doyoung." Johnny said in encouragement.

I was starting to feel slightly light headed and a high-pitched sound was ringing in my ears.

"I can do this." I muttered and ignored the sound of my heavy breathing.

"Guys has anyone got any idea what the last item is?" Jeno asked in a panicked voice. "It seems like a chain but where the fuck is it?!"

"I thought it was a chain too." Ten added.

"It's done." Jungwoo spoke up softly and took the knife away from me. He had been crouched on the floor with his eyes level with the beaker.

I sighed in relief and ripped a part of my shirt to wrap around my hand.

"We have literally 1 minute left guys!" Jaemin was starting to panic again.

"I hope I didn't fucking bleed myself out just for one of us to die." I was becoming increasingly annoyed at the situation we were in.

"Such a shame that no one offered to help you Doyoung." Taeyong spoke, his voice seeming louder than usual because of my pounding headache. "You all could have cut your palms and put blood into the beaker, but instead you let one person carry the burden."

I looked at the guilty expressions of my friends and shook my head. I wouldn't have let them do it anyway.

"You also failed to notice that the knife was covered in poison."

"What the fuck?!"

"Oh shit Doyoung!"

"You fucking asshole." I laughed weakly. "So I'm going to die anyway?"

"Maybe."

I heard a loud noise and turned around to see the door to the next room had opened. Jungwoo had taken the beaker and slotted it into the door, which had caused a chain to drop down from the ceiling. He had presumably pulled it, opening the door.

Jungwoo turned and gestured for us to follow him.

"I'm not going in there, you must be joking." Yuta said. "I'm staying in this room."

"Yuta come on, you'll die if you stay in here and we need to work together." Sicheng tugged on his sleeve.

I coughed and clutched at my chest, bringing the attention back to me.

"Go into the next room, the longer you stand around, the more likely Doyoung will die." Taeyong commanded.

Johnny put my arm around his shoulder and gestured for Mark to do the same. They held me up as we walked shakily into the next room.

"Well done Jungwoo." I breathed out as we passed him.

He sent me a weak smile and jumped as the door slammed closed behind us.

"Do you all see the apparatus on the other side of the room?" Taeyong asked.

We all turned our attention to a small glass chamber that held a small bottle filled with liquid. The bottle was sitting on a glass platform which could not be reached unless someone puts their arm inside the chamber and grabs the bottle.

"Inside the bottle is an antidote for the poison that runs through Doyoung's veins. However someone must make a sacrifice. One of you will lose a hand as a weight is needed to drop onto the glass platform and lower it for someone else to grab the bottle and give to Doyoung."

Donghyuck cautiously walked closer and inspected the apparatus while the rest of us groaned.

"Do you want your friend to die?" Taeyong snapped when he heard our groans.

"Of course not." Ten snapped back. "But it's really sick how one of us has to lose a hand for the other to live."

"I agree, you're really fucked up Taeyong." I coughed out.

"That hurts." Taeyong mocked.

"We need to decide who's going to complete the task this time." Jeno interrupted our squabble.

Everyone became silent and stared at each other.

"I'll do anything else but I'm not losing a hand." Jaemin said.

"Yeah sorry but I want to keep both my hands." Donghyuck walked away from the glass chamber.

I closed my eyes and dropped my head back onto the wall. I guess I really was going to die, I was starting to wish I hadn't volunteered myself in the last room.

"Are you serious?! Doyoung saved us in the last room and all you care about is keeping your fucking hands?" Sicheng cursed. "I'll do it."

"No Sicheng!" Yuta held him back. "I don't want you to lose a hand."

"Let me go Yuta!" he struggled against his boyfriend's grip. "No one else is volunteering and I'm not going to let Doyoung die!"

"We can find another way, find a robot arm perhaps." Yuta protested.

"Are you dumb? This room is empty apart from that damn glass case and the bottle." Sicheng snapped.

"Let him do it Yuta." Ten said. "We need to save Doyoung."

"Why don't you volunteer your boyfriend to do it instead?" Yuta almost growled at him.

"BECAUSE SICHENG ALREADY OFFERED!" Ten yelled.

A loud groan made everyone stop arguing and shift their eyes towards the apparatus. Jungwoo stared at us wide eyed with his arm inside the glass chamber.

"Jungwoo..." Ten choked out.

"Jungwoo..." I echoed and watched him from my position slumped against the wall.

"I'm going to save you." he smiled, ignoring the blood that was oozing out of the cuts on his arm. "I just need to grab the bottle..."

He took a deep breath and screamed as the blades cut into him deeper. His hand wrapped around the bottle tightly, tears dripped down his face but he had an expression of fierce determination.

"I can't watch!" Jaemin cried and buried his face into Jeno's neck.

Yuta held his hands over Sicheng's eyes and Mark was pacing anxiously.

"I'm going to pull out my hand now." Jungwoo announced.

We all knew what was going to happen next but it still didn't make the sight any less painful when an even louder scream ripped from his throat and a loud thud was heard.

"Grab the bottle." Jungwoo said breathlessly, he fell to the floor and held his arm to his chest.

Ten hurriedly ran over and pried the bottle from Jungwoo's hand which was still wrapped around it. He ran over to me, his fingers fumbling with the lid before holding it to my lips.

I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, letting the liquid slide down my throat.

I coughed at the foul taste before breathing a sigh of relief.

"You fools trust too easily, how do you know you didn't just quicken the speed of Doyoung's death? How do you know I didn't just trick you into thinking it was an antidote?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Yuta yelled.

"Don't worry guys, it was the antidote." Jungwoo said, blood was now pooling on his shirt and his expression was pained. "I've been through this before and Taeyong has said the same thing each time."

"Do you want to die for real Jungwoo?" Taeyong threatened. "Just because I've been lenient with you and brought you back from the dead doesn't mean you can abuse your position."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sicheng had moved Yuta's hands off his eyes and crawled over to Jungwoo. He pulled off his hoodie, leaving him in a thin t-shirt and wrapped the boy's arm up carefully.

"It's time to sleep."  Taeyong lulled.

We heard a hiss before seeing a white mist enter the room.

"Hold your breath!" Johnny yelled and everyone held a hand over their mouth and nose.

"I'm sleepy." Jaemin muttered, slumping down.

Jeno laid his head on Jaemin's chest and passed out from the gas.

Soon after everyone including I closed our eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Doyoung's POV**

I awoke to a throbbing feeling in my head and sore lips. I moved my hand up to touch my lips and felt that they were slightly swollen. I also noticed the t-shirt I'd wrapped around my hand had been taken away and replaced with a clean bandage.

I shivered at the thought of Taeyong touching me whilst I'd been unconscious.

I turned my head slightly when I heard a groan and saw Donghyuck sit up, his head in his hands.

"How long was I out?" he croaked.

I shook my head and shrugged. I had no idea either.

The next person to wake up was Jungwoo. He blinked in confusion before snapping his head down to look at his arm.

He breathed a sigh of relief at the bandage that was wrapped around his arm where his hand used to be before looking up at me.

"You feeling okay Doyoung?" he asked softly.

I nodded.

"Thank you." I croaked out. "For saving me."

"I was just repaying the favour." he shrugged, his eyes moving to look at the other boys. "I've been in here many times and you're the first one I've seen to volunteer to do a gruesome task."

"You've been here many times?" I repeated and crawled over to him. "Can you tell me what's going on? Who is Taeyong actually?"

He glanced over at Mark who groaned as he sat up before looking back into my eyes.

"I can't tell you, I'm sorry."

"Hyuck stop please." Mark swiped at Donghyuck's hand that was caressing his face. "I'm fine."

Donghyuck pouted and stood up. His eyes lit up when he noticed a pile of apples on a high table in the corner of the room.

"Don't eat them." I warned him. "We don't know what fucked up shit Taeyong has in store for us next."

"I'm hungry." he pouted again and rubbed his stomach.

"I'm hungry too but let's wait until everyone is awake."

He fell to the floor in defeat and laid his head on Mark's lap. Mark's usually calm demeanour cracked as a tear slid down his cheek.

"I miss home." he said quietly and stroked his boyfriend's hair.

"I do too Mark." I empathised. "We'll get out don't worry."

He looked up at me and paused for a second before nodding.

"TAEYONG YOU COWARD! WHY DON'T YOU COME IN HERE AND FIGHT ME?" Johnny yelled once he'd woken up.

"Maybe one day Johnny." Taeyong chuckled. "If you survive."

"Can we eat?" Jaemin looked up at the camera and pointed to the apples.

"You may, but." Taeyong began and caused everyone to pause on their way to the apples. "One of them is poisoned."

"I knew this was another trick!" Ten complained.

"So one of us will be poisoned and another person has to do some gruesome task to save the other?" I asked weakly.

"Not this time, one of you will die for real. Do you see the door?"

We looked over at the door. There was a large glass human sized container hanging from the ceiling.

"At the bottom of the container is a button that is needed to open the door. As soon as the button is pressed acid will fall from the ceiling onto the person inside the container and they will die. However, to make the choice easier for you - you all will eat an apple and the person who is poisoned must be lifted into the container."

"That's fucking sick!" Yuta cried out.

"You should be used to it by now."

"Yuta I'm scared." Sicheng whimpered.

"Me too baby." Yuta held onto him tightly.

Red lights flashed around the room which signalled the beginning of the task.

"You have 30 minutes once again to complete the task."

"At this point I don't even care if I die, I'm just hungry." Jaemin said and was the first person to pick up an apple and take a bite.

Jeno followed after him and cautiously took a bite of his own apple.

Jungwoo went to the table and began handing out the apples to whoever approached him.

He threw the last remaining apple to me before taking a bite.

I trained my eyes on the bright red fruit in my hands and sniffed it slightly to try and determine if the poison was inside this apple. Once I was satisfied that the fruit smelt normal I took a large bite.

"Enjoying yourselves?" Taeyong asked.

No one bothered to answer and instead looked at each other to determine who was going to give away that they'd been poisoned.

After 10 minutes everyone had finished eating and we were sat in a circle.

Yuta broke the silence first. "I feel fine."

"I have a bit of a stomach ache but I don't think I've been poisoned?" Ten said.

"I think it's because you hate fruits, that's why you have a stomach ache." Johnny placed his hand on Ten's back and rubbed comfortingly.

Ten nodded in response. No one questioned why he'd eaten the fruit even though he hated it.

Mark suddenly held onto his head and started to breathe heavily.

"Markie?" Donghyuck said worriedly.

"I'm okay." Mark gasped out. "Just felt hot all of a sudden."

Johnny glanced at me worriedly. We watched as Donghyuck crawled closer to Mark and put an arm around his waist.

Everyone's attention was on Mark as he stared at the floor before turning suddenly and vomiting behind him.

"Shit." he grumbled and wiped at his mouth.

Mark's eyes remained vulnerable as he looked at each of us in turn.

"Mark..." Jaemin's eyes teared up.

"He's not dying." Donghyuck snapped. "It's just a coincidence."

"Hyuck I-" Mark vomited again and scrambled to stand up. His face became panicked and tears pricked at his eyes.

"Please." he gasped out, his gaze focusing on the camera. "I don't want to die."

Taeyong remained silent for once and we watched as Mark rested one hand on the wall, he hunched his body forward and rested his other hand on his leg.

"Someone fucking save him!" Donghyuck shouted and looked at us desperately.

"We can't do anything Donghyuck." Johnny said softly.

Donghyuck turned his piercing gaze to Jungwoo who also had tears in his eyes.

"You." Donghyuck pointed accusingly. "You were the one who passed Mark the apple. You poisoned him!"

"Donghyuck stop!" Sicheng cried out as Donghyuck launched himself towards Jungwoo.

I scrambled to my feet and caught Donghyuck just before his fist landed on the boy's face.

"Let me hit him!" Donghyuck screamed shrilly. "He fucking killed Mark."

Jungwoo looked at us helplessly as Donghyuck struggled in my arms.

"Doyoung fucking let me go!" he yelled and bit my arm. I grit my teeth but didn't loosen my grip until Mark's voice made him stop moving.

"Hyuck."

"Mark." I let Donghyuck go and he rushed over to his boyfriend. "I'm here baby."

"You need to lift me up into the container so I can push the button."

"No." Donghyuck shook his head. "I won't let you."

"Hyuckie." his voice became quieter. "I need to do this. You need to live."

"I don't want to fucking live without you!" Donghyuck yelled angrily.

"You must!" Mark grabbed onto Donghyuck's arms and shook him roughly. "You need to live, for me."

Donghyuck fell to the floor and Mark soon joined him.

"I feel like my heart is breaking in two." Donghyuck sobbed. "This is so unfair."

"I know." Mark smiled weakly. "But I love you, you know that right?"

"Of course I know stupid." he grabbed Mark's face. "I fucking love you."

Mark chuckled and stared into his boyfriend's eyes.

I wiped away the tears that had slid down my face as I watched the exchange.

Mark turned to us weakly and glanced up at the glass chamber, signalling that it was time for him to push the button.

We all stood up and waited for Mark to shuffle slowly towards his death.

He took a deep breath and turned back towards us.

He opened his mouth but closed it as his lip wobbled and fresh tears pooled in his eyes.

"I-" Mark began but was cut off by Sicheng wrapping his arms tightly around him.

"I'm so sorry Mark."

Sicheng pulled away and moved aside for the next person to hug him.

"I shouldn't have suggested this stupid escape room." Yuta sobbed as he hugged him. "It's my fault, I feel like shit."

"You didn't know any better." Mark assured him.

"Mark!" Jaemin cried out and aggressively flew into Mark's arms almost knocking him over.

"Jaemin." Mark smiled. "Look after Hyuck for me will you?"

He nodded and backed away to hold onto Jeno's hand tightly.

All the other boys apart from Donghyuck and I had said their farewells.

I approached him and gently placed my hands on his shoulders.

"We'll meet again in the next life Doyoung." he croaked out.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

Donghyuck made a strangled noise and hugged onto Mark tightly. By now Mark was extremely pale and was barely holding himself up.

"Hyuck." Mark breathed out.

"You dumb piece of shit, why did you have to get poisoned?" Donghyuck seemed to be having a hard time accepting the fact Mark was dying.

"Because I'm stupid." Mark laughed weakly.

"No you're not, you're so clever. I feel horrible for making fun of you when you corrected my English. I'd give anything for you to correct me one more time." Donghyuck rambled.

"Your English is fine." Mark brushed the hair out of Donghyuck's eyes. "You're perfect baby."

"I don't want to let you go."

"You must, everyone else is relying on me."

"Hyuck come here." Jeno said softly, reaching his hand out for him.

Donghyuck shook his head stubbornly.

"Johnny, Doyoung. Help me up." Mark said.

"Don't fucking touch him, I won't forgive you!" Donghyuck yelled.

Ten and Yuta held Donghyuck back as Johnny and I gave Mark a leg up. Mark grabbed onto the rim of the container and steadied himself on our hands.

Donghyuck managed to struggle his way out of their grip and charged at us while screaming hysterically.

Johnny used his free hand to push Donghyuck back harshly, making him slide across the floor.

"I don't want to hurt you Donghyuck but this is necessary." Johnny warned.

"Mark!" Donghyuck cried.

Mark managed to lift himself up and slide down into the container.

He smiled at his boyfriend and took a deep breath. "It'll be okay Hyuck."

"Don't push the button." Donghyuck yelled. He'd stood and ran back over to us, looking up at Mark desperately.

"Please stop, you're making it harder for me to do this." Mark begged. "I'm dying anyway."

"No." Donghyuck gasped. "No, we can get you an antidote."

Mark closed his eyes tightly before reaching down and slamming his fist onto the button.

"MARK!" Donghyuck cried out. "NO-"

"Goodbye." Mark mouthed before the acid rained down on his body.

I quickly looked away as he started to scream, the liquid burning his skin.

Thankfully the door to the next room opened and I was half tempted to make a run for it to avoid hearing the painful screams of my friend and his boyfriend.

"Hyuck let's go." Jeno grabbed onto Donghyuck's arms and tried to drag him along.

Mark was desperately scratching at the glass as it filled up with acid and his face was starting to become unrecognisable.

Johnny grabbed Donghyuck and lifted him up, making sure to cover his eyes despite his protests. I followed the others into the next room and fell down to the floor straight away, the image of Mark's body was scarred into my mind.

Donghyuck sobbed uncontrollably, yelling at anyone who tried to comfort him.

"Murderers!" Donghyuck cried.

"Sorry to interrupt." Taeyong said. "But shall we move onto the next task?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Doyoung's POV**

"There is no set limit to how long this task will take."

"Thank God for that." Ten mumbled.

"Simply because you will all stay in this room until one of you kills another."

"Jokes on you because we won't kill anyone." Yuta spat and held onto Sicheng tightly.

"You'll be trapped in here forever then."

I glanced around at the terrified faces of my friends and hugged my arms around myself. It was obvious none of the couples were going to kill each other, which left Jungwoo, Donghyuck and I as prime targets.

Is this what the stamp on my hand meant? Be careful who I trust because I might get stabbed in the back by my own friends?

"Aren't you going to tell us who you are?" I asked, trying to distract everyone from the task we had been given.

Taeyong laughed. "Not yet, soon though."

"There's nothing to tell, he's clearly some messed up psycho who got hurt in his previous relationship so now he has to go about fucking with people to make himself feel better." Donghyuck grumbled.

Jaemin went over to hug Donghyuck and the relief was visible on his face when he wasn't yelled at. A tear slid down Donghyuck's cheek and he hugged Jaemin back.

Jeno came up to me from behind and tugged at my sleeve. When I turned around he pulled me into a hug and nestled his head into my neck.

"I don't want anyone else to die." he breathed out. "I feel so bad for Hyuck, I can't imagine the pain he is feeling right now."

I nodded silently and rubbed my hand on his back comfortingly. 

Jungwoo burst into tears suddenly, making us stare at him in shock. He looked at Donghyuck with a sorrowful expression and seemed to be fighting with himself internally.

"I'm so sorry!" he sobbed. "It's all my fault, I should have just taken an apple for myself and let you guys choose your own. Maybe that way I would have chosen the poisonous one and died - at least you guys wouldn't care because you don't know me, I-"

"Shut up!" Jaemin glared at him. "Stop talking about dying, what's done is done."

"I just feel so bad."

Sicheng glanced up at Yuta before hesitantly going over to Jungwoo and hugging him gently.

"No one blames you."

"I-I'm not so sure about that."

"If you feel so bad why don't you just kill yourself so we can finish this task?" Donghyuck snapped.

"Donghyuck!" Johnny scolded. "Don't talk to him like that."

"You don't understand, you still have Ten by your side. I have no one!"

"You have  _us_." Jeno corrected him. "We're all in this together."

"It's not the same, you might as well kill me so I can be with Mark."

Jaemin slapped Donghyuck harshly across the cheek and glared at him.

"Will you just shUT UP? You're our FRIEND Hyuck, we're not fucking killing you."

Donghyuck held his cheek and stared at Jaemin with his mouth wide open.

Taeyong turned on his microphone and laughed loudly. 

"Popcorn is ready, anyone want some?"

"PISS OFF!" Donghyuck and Jaemin yelled at the same time, causing us to chuckle.

The atmosphere lightened considerably and I smiled fondly as the two boys hugged and made up.

"You guys are no fun." Taeyong groaned.

My stomach growled loudly at the thought of food and I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck. I was still extremely hungry after eating an apple but I was worried if I even brought up the mention of food Taeyong would poison one of us again.

"Here's some house rules before I leave you fuckers alone. There's a toilet in the far corner of the room, since we don't know how long you'll be in here I kindly put one there because I don't want you messing up my floor with faeces. You can spill as much blood as you like but not excrement, that's just disgusting."

"You're disgusting." Yuta retorted.

"I will give you one meal per day, hopefully you won't be in here for more than 3 days but if you are... I won't give you any more food and you'll just have to kill someone if you want to eat again. I will knock you out with gas before bringing the food into the room so you don't try anything funny."

 

"Doyoung can I cuddle with you?" Jungwoo asked shyly as the others laid down and tried to get comfortable.

"Sure." I smiled at boy. I couldn't bring myself to hate him despite knowing he had some involvement in Taeyong's plans. Besides, he had saved my life.

Taeyong clicked his tongue. "No, Doyoung has to sit away from the others, I have something in store for him."

"What's that?" I asked curiously.

"You'll find out soon enough."

I sent Jungwoo an apologetic look and sat in the middle of the room by myself. Donghyuck cuddled up with Jeno and Jaemin and I was glad I'd never know the pain he was feeling.

The perks of being single? I wouldn't have to worry about my significant other dying or becoming ill or anything which would induce anxiety in me.

"I wonder what that freak would do if I broke the camera?" Johnny mumbled quietly and glared up at the camera.

"I wouldn't suggest trying it just in case he takes your life into his own hands." I warned him.

He sighed loudly and rested his head against Ten's shoulder before closing his eyes.

I closed my eyes but quickly opened them again when I saw Mark's body in my mind.

The gas started to fill the room, forcing me to close my eyes and lay down. I was drifting in and out of conciousness when I felt the floor suddenly disappear from underneath me.

I let out a weak scream, being unable to protect my head from the fall since my body was basically asleep. I felt myself land on something semi-hard and the wind got knocked out of my lungs, making me succumb to the darkness. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Doyoung's POV**

I groaned and stretched my aching body, expecting to see my friends when I opened my eyes. It was extremely dark and the only thing I could make out was a door with light beaming through.

I stood shakily, suddenly becoming hyper aware when I remembered I had fallen through some trap door. I slowly walked towards the door, a brief hope building in me that I was close to my freedom.

I paused when I heard voices and tried to make out what they were saying but they were too muffled for me to understand even a single word.

Once I reached the opening I looked up the flight of stairs which led to another door. Making sure to make as little noise as possible I ascended the stairs and peeked into the room.

"...grown soft Taeyong." I heard the remnants of a sentence by a voice which I understood to be Jaehyun's. The room I was looking into seemed empty though so I pushed open the door and stepped inside.

I curiously looked at the walls which were covered in old newspaper clippings and photographs.

A headline caught my eye which read  _'Boy, 16, gang raped and murdered by a group of six men.'_ Underneath was a photo of a young looking Taeyong smiling at the camera.

"Huh?" I mumbled quietly as my fingers traced over the photo before my eyes moved on to several photographs of unfamiliar men. A rusty knife had been harshly shoved into the wall on the side and I guessed this knife had been used to stab at the photos, as they had holes over the faces.

"Having fun?" I jumped and whipped my head around to see Taeyong with his arms crossed, leaning against the door frame.

"I-I was just-"

He walked towards me slowly, not breaking eye contact until he was mere centimetres away from my face.

I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath until I heard rustling beside me. I opened my eyes and glanced down at the desk where Taeyong was rummaging through newspapers. I briefly saw Jungwoo's face on one of the papers but became distracted by the amount of articles with Taeyong's face on them.

"W-why does it say you were murdered?" I asked quietly.

He stopped rummaging and picked up a paper which had six faces on them and were the same as the photographs on the wall.

He held it up for me to see and waited for me to look back up at him again before talking.

"These  _men_ \- if you can even call them that, pounced on me one night and knocked me out."

I held my breath and nervously flicked my eyes around his face as his features contorted into sadness.

"I woke up in an unfamiliar place with hands roaming all over my body. Those sick bastards had raped me while I was unconscious and ignored my screams and pleads to stop."

I was captivated by the emotion on his face and in his voice, forgetting for a moment the horrible things he'd done to my friends and I.

His eyes were full of fire when the next words left his mouth.

"When they were done with me they stabbed me repeatedly with a blunt knife and left me to die lying in an alleyway. The only reason I was found was because I was supposed to be meeting Jaehyun and he saw the men drag my body into a van. It took years of investigation to catch the men responsible for my death."

"I-I'm sorry." I stuttered out, feeling my heart break for the man in front of me.

"So I made a deal with the devil and was given a second chance at life. I built this place and agreed to send unsuspecting souls down to hell for him to use as slaves as a payment for my life. You wouldn't believe the look of shock on Jaehyun's face when I turned up on his doorstep."

"Where does Jungwoo fit in all of this?" I asked curiously.

He glanced down at the pile of newspapers before looking back at me.

"I asked for him to be given a second chance to help me. That second chance turned into third, fourth, limitless chances since he kept dying during the tasks I gave the groups."

"Can I ask why you enjoy killing innocent people? You took away the boyfriend of one of my friends, don't you feel even a little bit remorseful?"

Taeyong belted out a loud laugh and slapped a hand on my back.

"Remorse? Did those men have remorse when they raped and murdered me? I was just an innocent boy until they decided to have their way with me. That's life, murder or get murdered."

I bit my lip and focused my eyes on my shoes, which I noticed had a splotch of blood on them.

"I'll change your bandage for you." he suddenly took my hand and lead me into another room which had monitors covering the walls.

Taeyong went to rummage around in a cupboard while I looked at the screens, trying to find the one which held my friends. I noticed slight movement on the fourth screen and moved closer to see what they were doing.

"JAEHYUN! SEND MORE GAS INTO ROOM 4!" Taeyong yelled when he noticed what I was looking at and placed bandages onto the table.

"Why are you gassing them again?" I asked.

"I want them to remain unconscious until you go back in with them."

I stayed quiet and sat on a chair Taeyong was motioning to. He sat opposite me and took my hand once again. He unwrapped the old bandage and examined the wounds before wiping them with wet wipes.

"For a murderer you sure do like to tend to my wounds." I laughed quietly, trying to relieve my nervousness.

A new face walked into the room and he raised an eyebrow at Taeyong who'd looked up at him, my hand forgotten. I grabbed one of the bandages and stuffed it into my back pocket, I'd give it to Jungwoo later.

"You seem to have taken a liking to this one." Jaehyun said sharply and pushed a button on the keyboard. I watched as the gas filled up the room with my friends and felt my stomach clench at the thought of going back in there again.

Taeyong shrugged and turned back to me. He grabbed a bandage and gently wrapped my hand up before throwing the wet wipe and old bandage into the bin.

"All done." he smiled.

I felt my heart suddenly speed up the pace it was pumping blood around my body.

"Th-thanks." I blushed and averted my eyes to anything and everything but him.

"You're cute." he commented, making me widen my eyes and stare at him.

He laughed at my shocked expression. "What I mean is... I could murder you right here and now but you're blushing in my presence."

"If I blush will that make you think twice about hurting me and my friends?" I asked hopefully.

He shook his head. "Nice try."

I pouted. "You brought Jungwoo back from the dead so can you maybe, just maybe, bring Mark back too?"

He pursed his lips. "You're becoming very bold  _Doyoungie_. The only person I'd bring back is you, if you happen to die."

I tried not to blush at the nickname but nodded gratefully. At least I could use this to my advantage, if there were any dangerous tasks then I could do them without the worry of actually dying.

Of course I would avoid dying if I could, I didn't want to go through unnecessary pain.

"Did you deliver the food?" Taeyong turned his attention back to Jaehyun.

Jaehyun nodded and picked up something from the table.

"It's time for you to join your friends." Jaehyun smirked at me and I saw the object he was holding was a hammer.

I scrambled backwards, falling onto the floor in the process and moving until my back hit the wall behind me.

"Don't- please-"

I sent a pleading look to Taeyong who looked like he wanted to laugh. That traitor-

"Your face! That was fucking hilarious, you should be an actor." Jaehyun shook with laughter and Taeyong soon joined in, clapping like a seal.

I stared at them in confusion. "So... you're not going to knock me out?"

"We will, just not with a hammer. With my strength I might accidentally kill you, and what's the fun in that?"

"Stop playing around Jae, I want to send him back in as soon as possible so we can find out who dies next." Taeyong's eyes lit up in excitement as if he was waiting for the next episode of his favourite drama to air.

"Got it." Jaehyun rolled his eyes but put the hammer back down and picked up a mask instead.

It looked like one of those masks you'd see in hospitals where they'd put it over your mouth and it'd send you to sleep for an operation.

"Night night Doyoung." Jaehyun said and I didn't resist when he placed the mask over my mouth.

I welcomed the familiar wooziness that turned my brain into mush and fell into a peaceful sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Doyoung's POV**

"I wish that prick would stop knocking us out, my head hurts like a bitch every time I wake up." Johnny groaned.

"I know right, we literally just woke up and he knocked us out again. What's up with that?" Ten complained.

"I guess Doyoung wasn't back yet." Yuta said, making me lift my head up and look at my friends.

"What?" I asked in mock confusion.

"We know you disappeared." Yuta rolled his eyes. "So what was it Taeyong wanted with you?"

"I... I can't remember." I lied.

"You've got your lying face on-"

"NANA! NO!" Jeno interrupted and the sound of cutlery hitting the floor echoed around the room.

Jeno was staring wide eyed at his boyfriend who had apparently taken a bite of the food that was laid out on trays on a table.

"You idiot! You might die!"

"I was hungry-"

"Stop thinking with your stomach for once in your life and use that brain cell of yours!"

"I have more than one brain cell, thank you very much." Jaemin mumbled and wiped the food from the corner of his mouth.

"Debatable." Donghyuck muttered snidely.

Grateful for the distraction from Yuta's question I picked up the dropped spoon and placed it on the table.

"Let's wait for about 15 minutes and if Jaemin isn't dead, we'll agree that it isn't poisoned - deal?"

"I feel like a damn guinea pig."

"Deal." Johnny answered for everyone.

We decided to do some exercises to stretch our painfully stiff bodies. Anyone would have thought we were standing in the school gym, if it weren't for the dreadfully dark and morbid surroundings.

"Here." I quickly shoved the bandages into Jungwoo's hand. "Change your dressing."

"Thanks." he smiled and shuffled off to the corner where the toilet was situated.

Jaemin was executing a series of back flips and showing off his moves to Jeno and Donghyuck.

"See? I'm fine." Jaemin grinned.

"Okay everyone I think it's safe to say we can eat without fear of dying." I announced after watching Jaemin for a few more minutes.

"Do you think Renjun will come looking for us?" Jeno asked hopefully. "He said he was going to text us after his dance lesson and join us."

"And what will he be able to do?" Yuta scoffed. "We have no signal and we told literally no one we were going to be in here."

"Kun will find us." Sicheng said confidently. "He always knows when I'm about to sneak out of the house to meet Yuta so he'll definitely know I'm in trouble."

"That's just because you're so predictable." Yuta laughed.

"You okay Doyoung?" Jungwoo nudged me and took another spoonful of rice before looking at me with his wide innocent eyes.

"Yeah, fine." I mumbled, my thoughts on the newspaper clippings.

I wanted so badly to tell the others what I'd seen but I knew it wouldn't be a good idea. They'd probably think I was getting special treatment from Taeyong or something.

Yuta choked suddenly, bringing me out of my thoughts and I watched as he scrambled up from the floor and bent over, a hand placed over his mouth.

Sicheng stood up too and flailed his arms uselessly around his boyfriend in an attempt to help him.

"Yuta?!" he said rather loudly as Yuta coughed continuously.

"I-"

By now everyone was on their feet, worried about what was going to happen.

"Oh God, was his food poisoned?" Jungwoo nervously examined the abandoned tray on the floor.

"Guys, I-"

"No Yuta! Don't die on me! We still need to finish watching that anime you kept begging me to watch with you, what was it called? Kai- Kairu wa-?"

"You fools, I was choking on the food!" Yuta said in annoyance. "I'm not dying."

"You gave me a fucking heart attack." Johnny groaned.

"And it's kaichou wa maid-sama Winko, not kairu."

"Suddenly I am not so interested in finishing the anime."

Donghyuck had remained silent throughout this ordeal and he looked slightly annoyed. However I wasn't quite sure  _what_  he was annoyed about.

"Okaaay, false alarm." Ten sighed and flopped onto his back on the floor.

"Don't. Scare. Me. Again." Sicheng pinched Yuta between words, making Yuta cower away from his touch.

Taeyong blew a loud sigh into the microphone. "Such a damn shame Yuta didn't just  _die._  It would have been so amusing to see someone accidentally kill themselves. In case you're wondering - yes it has happened before."

"Not today bitch." Yuta replied nonchalantly.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm really sleepy." Jeno said, his empty tray beside him.

"Well we technically can do anything we want since there's no time limit so... shall we sleep?" Jungwoo suggested.

"I don't trust him, he's probably waiting for us to fall asleep so he can murder one of us." Donghyuck glared at him.

"I'm not." Jungwoo said quietly.

"Can I tell y'all my theory?" Taeyong said and carried on without waiting for a reply. "I think the person who will be the first to snap will be Donghyuck and he'll kill either Jeno or Jaemin out of jealously."

"I won't kill one of my best friends you dumb fuck."

"Whatever, I've seen it all before."

"Well you're wrong."

Jeno and Jaemin had retreated into a dark corner after they heard Taeyong's theory and were whispering to each other while pointing at something.

"What's this?" I walked over and felt my eyes widen as I stared at the pile of knives and guns.

"So you found the weapons." Taeyong stated matter of factly.

"Weapons?!" Donghyuck all but screeched before running over to us.

Jeno was examining a dagger with jewels embedded on the handle and made a noise of surprise when Donghyuck grabbed it out of his hands.

"Shit- Jeno-" Jaemin grabbed Jeno's arm and pulled him away from Donghyuck.

Donghyuck had other plans when he turned and glared at Jungwoo.

"Hey now..." I tried to distract him from what I predicted he was about to do.

"You fucking freak." he slurred and stumbled forward slightly. "You should die."

"Did Hyuck drink something? Like alcohol? He's acting strange." Ten frowned and positioned himself in front of Jungwoo.

"There was only a small bottle of water on my tray- wait-" I jogged over to Donghyuck's tray and sniffed at the bottle.

I cringed and held it away from my nose. "Vodka."

"That bastard tricked us again." 

Time went slowly as I turned and saw Donghyuck about to charge at Jungwoo. I stood and attempted to jump at him and rugby tackle him to the floor but he slipped through my fingers and I landed chest first on the hard floor.

"Oh FUCK-" Johnny cursed as the knife slid into Ten's stomach.

Ten stumbled backwards into Jungwoo who held him up in shock.

"T-Ten... oh my God, fuck no no-" Jungwoo mumbled incoherently. 

Johnny grabbed Ten out of Jungwoo's hand and covered the wound with his hand.

"Well, thanks for proving me right Donghyuck. You really did kill one of your friends."  
  
  



	8. Chapter 8

**Doyoung's POV**

"Hyuck you fucking idiot put the dagger down!" Johnny yelled as he held onto Ten and pulled him away to safety.

Donghyuck blindly swung it around, not caring about the fact he'd just stabbed Ten in the abdomen.

"This is payback for killing Mark! He would have wanted me... to... kill... you." he said while repeatedly stabbing the air.

"Are you for real? Mark would NOT have wanted this at all!" Jaemin shouted.

"How would you know, huh? He wasn't your boyfriend, he was MINE. AND NOW HE'S DEAD!"

I tried to grab Donghyuck once again as he ran past me but I missed by about a centimetre and helplessly watched as the knife harshly slid into Ten's neck.

"Dong...sookie..." Ten choked out, blood dripping down onto his collar.

Yuta angrily stormed up to Donghyuck and grabbed the blade of the dagger, not caring about the fact it was digging into his palm.

"LET IT GO YOU IDIOT!" Yuta yelled and threw the bloody dagger onto the floor when Donghyuck's grip loosened.

"B-babe..." Ten coughed out, his eyes fluttering open and closed.

"T-Ten I'm here, don't worry everything will be okay." Johnny cried, tears filling his eyes.

It was a painful sight to watch, since Johnny usually always had a hard exterior and I'd never actually seen him cry before.

Ten smiled slightly, his head resting against Johnny's chest who was kneeling on the floor.

"I feel so warm and tired." he sighed and shortly after saliva bubbled up out of his mouth and his body convulsed upwards.

"Chittaphon, hey baby don't fall asleep." Johnny begged, his hand now covering the wound on Ten's neck in an attempt to stop the blood from flowing out.

"Don't blame Hyuck, he didn't know what he was doing..." Ten trailed off and his hand searched for Johnny's face.

Johnny leant down so that his boyfriend could caress his face one last time, tears now in full flow dripping onto Ten's shirt.

"Ten... Ten don't go... don't leave me!" Johnny's body was shaking uncontrollably.

Sicheng was whimpering and holding tightly onto Yuta's shirt.

Johnny removed one of his hands from Ten's body and quickly brushed his fringe out of his eyes, leaving a streak of blood across his forehead.

He placed his hand back in its place and bent his head over so that their foreheads were touching.

Ten had closed his eyes and remained motionless, passing away silently in Johnny's arms.

After a while Johnny placed a small kiss on Ten's cheek and laid him down on the floor gently. His hands shook as he rearranged Ten's hair and neatened up his clothes.

When he looked up his teeth were clenched and eyes were blazing in anger.

"Donghyuck." he said in a dangerously quiet voice.

"I-I was just doing what everyone else was too scared to do... I-I had to finish what I started..." Donghyuck babbled and started to walk backwards as Johnny advanced on him.

Jeno half heartedly grabbed onto Johnny's sleeve in an attempt to stop him from hurting Donghyuck but Johnny easily brushed him off. A vein in his neck was easily visible from the short distance away where I was standing.

His fist landed on Donghyuck's nose, making a  _crack_  sound and Donghyuck put his hands up to protect himself from further damage.

"Johnny stop!" Sicheng begged but didn't make an effort to stop Johnny's fist from hitting Donghyuck again.

Donghyuck cried out this time and held onto his eye while stumbling backwards.

"Johnny I'm sorry I-"

He was cut off as Johnny threw him onto the floor and straddled his hips before repeatedly punching his face.

"Johnny!" Jaemin was the first to move forward and grab onto the arm that was about to strike Donghyuck again.

I unfroze from my spot and went forward to help Jaemin pull Johnny away.

"You sick bastard." Johnny weakly tried to push us away but I firmly held onto him. "You killed Ten and all you can say is  _sorry?"_

Donghyuck sat up, his lip and nose bleeding and a bruise already forming on his eye. He lowered his gaze once he made brief eye contact with Johnny and instead focused his eyes on a spot on the floor.

"Am I wrong?" Johnny glared around at us. "Am I wrong for wanting to kill this boy who just stuck a knife into Ten like his life meant nothing?"

We stayed silent, too scared to speak in case we'd trigger Johnny into releasing his anger on us.

"AM I WRONG?!" Johnny yelled, his breathing speeding up once again.

"No." Donghyuck finally replied quietly. "You're right."

"Instead of focusing your anger on Donghyuck you should focus it on the sick person who trapped us in here." Yuta said and Sicheng nodded in agreement.

"But Taeyong wasn't the one who physically held the knife and plunged it into Ten." Johnny glared.

"You were the one who physically boosted Mark up into the container where he was destroyed by the acid." Donghyuck glared back, feeling his confidence rise due to the pent up anger from a couple rooms back.

"HE WAS DYING ANYWAY!" Johnny shrieked.

"I DON'T CARE, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO PLAY INTO THE GAME!"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" Jaemin begged, hugging his knees to his chest. "I hate seeing you all fight, please stop."

"Let's do it your way then." Johnny quietened his voice. "Let's stop playing the game and see what happens."

"Deal."


	9. Chapter 9

**Doyoung's POV**

"Move along boys." Taeyong said in a bored tone. "The door is open."

Johnny hovered over Ten's body as if contemplating bringing him along into the next room.

"Leave him." I said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Everyone was watching us from the door with sorrowful expressions. Everyone except Donghyuck who'd been the first one to storm through the open door.

Johnny turned and sluggishly walked towards our friends, and I followed close behind. He sat by himself on the floor, far away from Donghyuck and slouched forward.

As the doors closed with a loud  _bang_  I apprehensively sat beside Johnny and placed an arm around his shoulders.

"You didn't comfort me when Mark died." I turned with wide eyes to see Donghyuck glaring at me.

"Y-you had Nana and Jeno comfort you..." I trailed off, suddenly feeling guilty at not taking his feelings into consideration.

"Well now they hate me because of Taeyong's 'theory' which didn't 100% come true, I was aiming for that asshole over there." he pointed to Jungwoo.

"W-what did I do?!" Jungwoo's lip wobbled and the poor boy looked like he was about to burst into tears any second now.

"I don't hate you Hyuck." Jaemin said. "I was worried, that's all."

"Yeah same. I think I would go crazy too if Nana died." Jeno added.

"Welcome to room 5 suckers. Congratulations, you're halfway there!" Taeyong cheered. "Let's take a moment to clap for our remaining participants."

Everyone remained deadly silent and glared up at the camera.

"Okaaay, shall we clap for the fallen instead then?"

"Disrespectful fucker." Donghyuck spat.

"Cut the crap Taeyong, just tell us what the next task is." I sighed.

He paused for a second and I could almost imagine his shocked expression.

"Only for you Doyoungie. This one is fairly simple, five keys are hidden around the room, you must find all of them to open the door. Except there's a catch - one of the keys is inside one of you."

"Who?" Sicheng asked worriedly.

"Doyoung."

"M-me?!" I almost choked on my saliva in shock.

"Yes _you_  sweetie. After you'd spent quality time with me, and Jaehyun had knocked you out, I forced a key down your throat and it's probably sitting in your stomach right now."

"Well I guess that answers my question of what the heck you were doing with Taeyong." Yuta shrugged.

I almost wanted to strangle him at how unsympathetic he was being.

"But it doesn't matter because we refuse to do the task." Jeno crossed his arms.

"I dunno guys, I wouldn't really mind digging into Doyoung's stomach to save my own skin."

"And I wouldn't mind digging into yours but the key isn't in there." Johnny defended me. "You were the one who agreed we wouldn't do the next task."

"You can either do what I told you or face the consequences." Taeyong said. "I'll give you an hour to come to your senses."

"Last time he said he'd kill one of us if we didn't complete the room's task." Sicheng said in a small voice.

"It doesn't make any difference, either Doyoung would have to die or one of us randomly dies." Jaemin explained.

Jeno laid down on his back and put his hands behind his head. "I guess I'll just nap for an hour."

"I never thought I'd say it but I miss Jisung's snarky remarks and Chenle's dolphin laugh." Jaemin sighed and laid down next to Jeno.

"Me too Nana, me too."

I removed my arm from Johnny's shoulders and laid down on the cold, hard floor with my hands covering my torso.

"You don't need to cover your stomach with your hands, no one is actually going to hurt you." Johnny said sympathetically and turned so that his body was perpendicular to mine. "I'll sit here while you sleep though, just in case."

"Thanks." I smiled gratefully up at him and closed my eyes, soon after drifting off to sleep.

I groaned as an alarm went off and those stupid red lights were flashing around the room again. I struggled to sit up and rubbed my eyes to see the timer flashing 00:00.

"You failed to complete the task." Taeyong said and a hatch in the wall that I hadn't noticed before opened up and a piece of paper was pushed through. "Someone grab the note."

We all stood up but Donghyuck was the one who made it to the hatch first.

I jumped as a gunshot almost burst my eardrums and frantically looked around to spot the culprit holding the gun.

I frowned in confusion when there wasn't a gun in sight but soon understood what had happened when I noticed Donghyuck hadn't turned around and was holding his chest. 

"That's what happens when you go against my orders." Taeyong growled cruelly.

Donghyuck whimpered and stumbled backwards into Jungwoo. The scene was an exact replica of when Ten was stabbed and he had fallen into Jungwoo.

I gently took Donghyuck away from the shaking boy and laid his head in my lap.

"I didn't mean it." Donghyuck breathed out, his eyes focused on mine. "When I said I would dig into your stomach to save my own skin, I didn't mean it."

"I know Hyuckie."

"I'm glad I was the one who got shot and not you. There needs to be at least one intellectual around here to save the other's asses."

"I-I'll try my best to get us all out of here."

"You better Doyoung." he jokingly threatened. "I'll be watching you as a ghost and if everyone dies then I'll haunt you forever."

I ignored his threat and smiled softly, a lump forming in my throat.

"You can be with Mark now."

"That's why I'm not scared of dying." he closed his eyes. "I can be with my love forever."

I could hear Jaemin crying in the background but kept my eyes on Donghyuck's face. Yuta placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed comfortingly.

"Rest in peace Donghyuck." I whispered, a stray tear escaping out of the corner of my eye.

"You know what?" Yuta growled suddenly. "I'm getting real tired of watching my friends die."

I glanced up at him just as he pulled a gun out of who-knows-where and aimed at the camera.

"Yuta no!" I desperately tried to grab the gun, fearing for the consequences of making Taeyong angry.

_Bang._

Part of the camera broke off and fell to the ground. I stared with wide eyes at the mess on the floor, my ears still ringing from the gunshot.

"Oh." Taeyong laughed. "You're so going to regret that."


	10. Chapter 10

**Doyoung's POV**

After Yuta shot the gun and destroyed the camera, the door to the next room didn't open and instead sleeping gas filled the room, making us fall unconscious for the nth time.

When I regained conciousness I was lying in a completely different room with a heavy weight holding me down. I realised I had Sicheng and Jeno lying on top of me, meaning Taeyong had just thrown us into a pile when he moved us into this room.

I weakly pushed them off, causing them to wake up in the process and I climbed off of Johnny, Jungwoo and Jaemin. Poor Jaemin was at the bottom of the pile being squashed by everyone else. 

"What the fuck happened?" Johnny cursed, removing himself from the pile. 

"Nakamoto Yuta happened." I winced, massaging my side gently.

"Speaking of, where is Yuta?" Sicheng asked, looking around.

My stomach dropped as I realised he wasn't lying with the rest of us.

"Yuta?! This isn't funny Yuta, stop hiding." Sicheng called out.

By now everyone was awake and brushing off the dirt from their clothes.

I turned around when I heard the sound of chains and saw a chair being lowered into the room. The person sat on the chair was none other than Yuta himself, with masking tape covering his mouth.

He struggled desperately against the restraints and his eyes were wide open in fear.

"Oh for fuck's sake." Johnny groaned.

"Those were my exact thoughts when Yuta destroyed the camera. I had just replaced it as well! Now I'm going to have to buy yet another one."

"No one gives a shit." Jaemin grumbled.

"You will when I tell you your friend's life is on the line and you have to work fast to save him."

Sicheng ripped off the masking tape from Yuta's mouth, allowing him to finally speak.

"Please save me, if I'd known I would be put in this position before shooting the gun I wouldn't have dared-"

"There is a pile of notes on the table, each with a different name on them. Collect the one with your name and complete the task before the timer runs out." Taeyong interrupted. "If you fail to do so, the restraints will loosen and the rope wrapped around Yuta's neck will be lifted immediately, hanging him."

I glanced at Yuta's neck and sure enough there was a rope snugly wrapped around his neck, attached to something on the ceiling.

"Yuta where on earth did you get the gun from?" I asked as I walked to collect the note.

"I picked it up in the room where Ten got killed, I kept it just in case."

"Was shooting a  _camera_  the best use of the gun?" Jaemin raised an eyebrow.

"I was mad, okay? Please stop talking and get me out of here."

I took the note Johnny was holding out to me and turned it over to read what I had to do to save Yuta.

"Jeno... you aren't going to be very happy when you find out what I have to do." I cringed as I read the note and then raised my eyes to look at him.

"Huh?" he walked to me cautiously and I held it up for him to read. "So that's what my note meant... I was wondering where the fuck I would find the numbers... BUT WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"I know it's messed up."

"What does Doyoung have to do?" Jaemin came up to us.

"He has to pull out 4 of my teeth which have numbers printed on the back. Then I need to use the numbers to open the two locks binding Yuta's legs."

"What about you Sicheng?" I asked.

He snapped his head up quickly. "U-uh... I don't have to do anything."

"Really? The piece of paper you're holding says you don't have to do anything?"

"Yep!" he laughed nervously and stuffed it into his back pocket.

I eyed him suspiciously but turned my attention to Jungwoo. He was as pale as a ghost and trembling slightly.

"I-I have to do what you did in the first room..." he looked at me with frightened eyes.

I pondered for a moment as I thought back to the first room, which felt like weeks ago but was in fact probably just a day or two ago.

"The first room... I had to fill a beaker up with blood didn't I?"

"Yeah, but this time I have to give five times as much as you did."

"How the fucking fuck is that going to help Yuta escape from his restraints?" Johnny asked.

Taeyong laughed. "It won't, it's just an extra task I gave to Jungwoo which he'll have to complete otherwise I won't let you go into the next room."

"He already lost a hand and now you're making him lose more blood? That's horrible." I commented. 

"You have one hour starting from now."

"Quick, Johnny and Jaemin tell us what you have to do." I said hurriedly as the timer started to count down.

"U-umm I have to- oh shit." Jaemin dropped the piece of paper and fumbled to pick it up.

"I have to find four keys to unlock the restraints on Yuta's arms." Johnny said quickly and ran to the far corner of the room to start searching.

Jaemin ran behind Yuta and looked down at something. "The note says I have to balance on this block of metal and if one side touches the floor, Yuta will get shocked. If he gets shocked five times then we'll automatically fail the task."

I walked over just as Jaemin was stepping onto the metal block and noticed it looked like a mini see-saw or balance scales which would move down when something heavy was placed on either side.

"Sicheng since you have nothing to do I suggest you hold onto Jaemin and make sure he doesn't fall off or accidentally shock Yuta." I gestured for him to come over.

He nodded and I went back over to Jeno who was waiting nervously with a pair of dental extraction forceps.

"You ready? This is gonna hurt." I warned him.

Jeno took a deep breath and balled his hands up into fists before making eye contact with me.

"I'm ready."


	11. Chapter 11

**Doyoung's POV**

I gripped the tool tightly and lined it up with the molar beside Jeno's canine tooth on the right side of his mouth.

"Are you sure it's this one?" I asked to double check I wasn't pulling the wrong tooth out.

"Yes the note says it's the four molars next to the canines." Jeno confirmed.

"Here goes." I latched onto the molar and started wiggling it around, trying to block out the sound of the whines of pain from the boy in front of me.

He grabbed onto my waist with one hand and squeezed tightly, but I didn't complain because I wasn't the one going through the excruciating pain. I have had teeth taken out before but I had been given local anaesthetic by my dentist beforehand.

"I found a key!" Johnny shouted just as I wrenched the tooth out harshly.

"Shit!" Jeno yelled and put his hand up to his mouth.

"Good job Johnny and sorry Jeno." I took the tooth and wiped the blood off to see the number. "The first number is 1."

I glanced behind me at Jungwoo just in time to see him dig a knife into the wound where his hand used to be. I grimaced at the sight of the wound opening up again and blood seeping its way out of his body.

"Second tooth." I said as I patiently waited for Jeno to take his hand away and prepare himself for the second extraction.

"This is so painful already." he gurgled through the mix of blood and saliva pooling in his mouth. He spat out the blood and opened his mouth wide once again.

I grabbed onto the tooth without hesitation this time and repeated the actions until it came loose.

"I think I'm going to faint from the pain." he groaned.

"Lie down, perhaps you'll feel a bit better if I extract the teeth when you're lying on the floor." I suggested and placed the tooth next to the first one.

He did as I proposed and rested his hands on his stomach while I sat next to his head and bent over to peer into his mouth.

"Sorry! Shit sorry Yuta." Jaemin cursed when he wobbled on the metal block and shocked Yuta by accident.

Yuta groaned and rubbed his forehead with his hand which was now free from the restraints. Johnny had already found two keys and two keys were remaining.

I blocked out all distractions and gave Jeno an apologetic smile before moving onto the third tooth.

"Can you move your tongue to the roof of your mouth? I feel like I might accidentally latch onto your tongue if you keep it at the bottom of your mouth." I asked him.

He lifted his tongue upwards, making it easier for me to see his bottom teeth and use the tool to wiggle the tooth out of his mouth.

Tears were forming in his eyes and the hands on his stomach had once again formed into fists.

"My poor Jeno." Jaemin sighed out from where he was watching. "At least now you can get braces and won't have to spend money to get your teeth taken out."

"Not helping Nana." Jeno groaned and poked at one of the empty spaces where a tooth once was.

"One more to go." I encouraged.

A cry from behind me made me whip my head around to see Jungwoo repeatedly stabbing his arm. He looked up once when he noticed me staring and gave me a sheepish look.

"I-it was taking too long..." he explained. "I've only filled the beaker with 200ml and don't want to run out of time before I finish."

"Doyoung what are the three numbers?" Jeno asked hoarsely, making me turn my attention back to him.

"1, 2 and 7."

"Jaemin!" Yuta yelled in an annoyed tone. "Can you be a bit more careful please?"

"Sorry sorry." he grumbled. "I'm feeling a bit light headed from the blood on Jeno's face and Jungwoo's arm."

"It's fine, just don't do it three more times or I'll be dead meat."

"Brace yourself." I advised as I placed the extraction tool over the final tooth.

Jeno squeezed his eyes shut and stayed silent until I had pulled out the tooth and handed it over to him along with the other three teeth.

"I've got thirty minutes to find the combination for both locks, great." Jeno muttered and wiped the blood away from his mouth before walking over to Yuta.

I looked over at Sicheng who looked like he was distracted and wasn't helping Jaemin much in any way whatsoever.

I sighed and started to make my way over.

"Doyoung if you so much as touch Jaemin then I'll hang Yuta." Taeyong warned. "You've done your task so sit down and watch."

"What the fuck?! I can't even help my friends?" I said in disbelief.

"This would be way too easy if I allowed you to help them."

"You've got this Jungwoo." I heard Jungwoo whisper to himself and I slightly smiled at how serious the boy was taking this despite being a pawn in Taeyong's game.

"You've got this." I repeated and gave him a thumbs up, to which he responded with a shaky smile.

Jeno cheered once he found the combination code for the first lock and immediately turned his attention to the second lock, whilst sticking his tongue out in concentration.

"Third key..." Johnny muttered as he pocketed the newly found key.

Almost twenty minutes later Yuta's other leg came free with a sigh of relief from Jeno.

However Johnny gave no sign of being close to finding the final key.

Yuta shook the restraint on his arm desperately trying to break it by force.

"Johnny..." Jaemin warned him while wobbling dangerously.

"I'm looking, fucking hell stop pressuring me!"

"Guys calm down, he might miss the key if he rushes." I said worriedly.

"My legs feel so weak so please  _please_  hurry up."

"JAEMIN!" Johnny yelled and tugged at his hair in frustration. "Just. Shut. Up. Okay? I've got this."

I glanced at the timer counting down to five minutes just as Taeyong spoke.

"Time is almost up kids."

Jungwoo was full on crying by now because of the pain and blood loss from his arm.

"I'm almost done." he choked out.

"I FOUND IT!" Johnny ran over and fiddled with the locks until Yuta was free, except for the noose around his neck.

Jaemin let himself fall to the floor and made a sound of relief while Sicheng ran to hug his boyfriend.

"Can I have this rope taken off now?" Yuta asked in an annoyed tone.

"No, you'll have to wait until Jungwoo is finished. One minute remaining."


	12. Chapter 12

**Doyoung's POV**

Thankfully Jungwoo finished his task in time and Yuta managed to escape with his life. Once the door opened we moved into an area that looked very different from the rooms we'd previously been inside.

It was more like a corridor with a narrow beam going down the centre, if you looked downwards then you could see tonnes and tonnes of needles. Several blades swung across which would slice you in half if you stepped in their path.

"Looks fun doesn't it? It reminds me of a children's obstacle course, except this one is a lot more dangerous." Taeyong chuckled. "Your life is in your own hands."

"Sicheng get on my back." Yuta demanded. "I'll carry you across."

"Are you an idiot? One misstep and you'll both be covered in needles, or if perhaps you don't step forward far enough Sicheng will be ripped from your back." I tried to talk some sense into this love driven boy.

"I can do it on my own Yuta." Sicheng agreed softly.

"Who first?" Jeno asked nervously.

"I'll go first, follow my lead." I tried to sound confident despite my heart racing at 100 miles per hour.

I took a tentative step forward away from the safety of my friends and towards the swinging pendulum blades. My legs shook slightly as I struggled to find my balance and was distracted by the whooshing of the blades.

"Careful." I heard Johnny warn from behind me.

I put my arms out to the side and put one foot in front of the other, keeping an eye on the first blade which was about a meter in front of me.

I stayed still for a few moments as I tried to time my run - if you could even call it a run, to the other side of the blade.

As soon as it swung past me I made a small noise of uncertainty and quickly took long strides past it.

Someone behind me let out a loud sigh of relief.

I repeated my steps until I'd gotten to the other end of the corridor and turned with a shaky smile to my friends.

"Good lord you made that look easy." Jaemin muttered loud enough for me to hear.

"You need to find a rhythm." I instructed. "Don't hesitate otherwise you'll probably die."

Johnny and Yuta made it across with no problems and it was currently Sicheng's turn. He frowned slightly in concentration.

"You've got this Winko!" Yuta cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted to the nervous boy.

After gathering himself Sicheng watched the pendulum blade for a couple seconds before running forward. His left foot slipped and he flailed his arms in an attempt to balance himself but he fell off the side of the beam.

Time seemed to slow as Sicheng's scream and Yuta's yell merged into one. The breath got caught in my throat until I noticed Sicheng hanging onto the beam by both his hands.

"Fuck! Sicheng wait there, I'm coming." Yuta said hurriedly.

I grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. "He can pull himself back up, it's too dangerous for you to go back."

"Guys I'm scared." Sicheng whined.

"Use your arm muscles to get back on the beam." I told him.

"What arm muscles?!" he screamed. "I literally have no muscles Doyoung I don't know what you're talking about."

"The adrenaline running through your veins should give you enough energy to pull yourself up Sicheng!" I almost rolled my eyes at his response.

He didn't reply and moments later he struggled back onto the beam and sat there panting.

"Now carefully stand up and make your way towards us."

Sicheng wobbled as he stood up and regained his balance. He shot a nervous glance at us before stepping forward once again.

When he eventually reached us he flew into Yuta's waiting arms and held onto him tightly.

"You scared me so bad." Yuta gasped out in relief.

"I think I saw my life flash before my eyes." Sicheng admitted before turning to watch Jeno take his turn.

Both him and Jaemin had no problem prancing across and avoiding the swinging blades. They moved so fast that I barely had time to blink before they'd moved to another position.

Jungwoo was the last person to make his way across and he'd been watching us nervously all this time.

"If you fall you're done for since you only have one hand to hold on, so be careful." I warned him.

He nodded nervously and stepped forward. He got past the first two checkpoints with no issues but just as he passed the third and final blade, his mouth was already twisting upwards into a smile when a new sound was heard.

I looked around in confusion before looking back at Jungwoo who had frozen in spot, horror quickly taking over his face. I looked down to look at his remaining hand, only to find it wasn't there.

"Your hand..?" I trailed off when I noticed blood flowing out fast from his new wound.

He let out a sob and collapsed onto the floor in front of us.

"Shit, did he..." Jaemin began.

"Yep." Jeno confirmed and placed a hand on Jungwoo's back as it shook with sobs.

"How cruel, now he doesn't have any hands." Johnny said angrily.

"It's not cruel." Taeyong laughed. "He did it to himself."

I sighed and took off my shirt before bending down to gently take his bleeding arm in my grip. I wrapped the shirt around his wound and knotted it to make sure it wouldn't fall off.

He stayed quiet and didn't resist as I placed my arms around his waist and lifted him up to his feet.

"It'll be okay." I whispered in his ear and squeezed his shoulder before searching for the infamous camera that Taeyong used to spy on us.

"Are you going to open the door or what?" I snapped once I'd found it.

"There's two doors in front of you - Doyoung you must go through the first door and the others go through the second door."

"Why is Doyoung getting separated from us again?" Yuta asked curiously.

"Shut up and go through the door."

"It's okay, I'll just meet you guys in the next room I guess." I shrugged and tried to reassure them.

The others nodded and I watched as they walked away from me before walking through the other door.


	13. Chapter 13

**Doyoung's POV**

"Doyoung." Taeyong called as the door slammed closed behind me and he appeared at the far end of the room. "Follow me."

"Why'd you bring me here?" I followed him cautiously to an all too familiar room with the screens.

"To give you a shirt, and a seat to watch first hand what happens in the next room."

My mouth opened but no sound came out as I was about to ask him why I wasn't taking part in the next task but he suddenly turned around and stared at me.

"Taeyong?" I asked nervously as he approached me like a predator hunting his prey. I backed away until my back hit the wall behind me and he was standing just a meter away.

His eyes glanced down to my bare chest and a smirk appeared on his face. I stayed frozen as his hand roamed over my torso and I squeaked when he put his face into my neck and inhaled deeply.

"W-what are you doing?!" I unfroze and tried to push him away, which only made him push himself against me.

"Do you know how long I've wanted to touch your sexy body and kiss you all over?" he replied huskily.

I gulped and stood rigidly as his tongue slid down my neck to my collarbone.

"Please stop..." I breathed out, feeling disgusted at his touch.

"Why? You don't want me to kiss you again?"

"Again..?"

He smirked and pulled away. "I wasn't going to tell you this but... I kissed you when I first knocked you all out and you were unconscious. You just looked so innocent and fragile lying there, I couldn't help myself."

"That's fucking disgusting!" I shouted and shoved him backwards. "Is that why my lips hurt when I woke up? You kissed me without my permission?!"

"What's the problem? I know you have a crush on me too."

"That's not the point, Taeyong." I breathed heavily. "You violated my body while I was asleep, that's not okay."

I saw a flicker of something in his eyes but I couldn't tell exactly what it was... remorse... guilt? It was gone in an instant though and the smirk was back.

"Do you want a shirt or do you want to share my body heat?"

I glared at him and tried to cover my body with my arms. "Shirt."

He pouted. "But I'm hot enough for both of us."

"Don't touch me." I spat and grabbed the shirt that was lying on the back of the chair by the screens.

I pulled it over my head and sat down.

Taeyong wouldn't give up and swivelled the chair around to face him before straddling my hips and sitting on my lap.

"Doyoungie..." he cooed and traced my jaw with his finger. "You're not mad are you?"

I stayed silent and raised an eyebrow.

He sighed. "Can I make it up to you?"

I pretended to think for a moment. "Hmm... how about... you bring my friends back? Maybe then will I consider forgiving you for everything you've done."

"Anything apart from that."

"I don't want anything else." I turned my head to the side to avoid his piercing gaze.

He turned my head back to face him. "Doyoung please."

He looked desperate, and his expression didn't change this time.

I sighed. "What do you want Taeyong?"

"You."

"In case you've forgotten, you're a psychopathic owner of an escape room who has killed a bunch of my friends. Why don't you understand I'm not interested?"

"Am I not attractive to you?"

"Fucking hell." I muttered before raising my voice. "Yes you're fucking hot okay if you're just talking about physical appearances then I am incredibly attracted to you but I know inside you're not a very nice person so that makes you unattractive to me, understand?"

"Was that Doyoung?"

"Did Doyoung just say that to Taeyong?"

"He thinks Taeyong is hot?"

I widened my eyes as I realised what had just happened.

"You fucking asshole... you just turned the microphone on so my friends could hear what I said didn't you? Even worse you turned it off before they could hear the bad things I said about you."

"Oops?" he smirked.

I pushed him off my lap and let him fall to the floor before crouching down and wrapping my hand around his neck.

"You wouldn't dare." Taeyong laughed huskily but his eyes showed fear, along with a tiny bit of lust.

"Oh I would." I shot back and squeezed slightly.

"Jaehyun!" he shouted as loud as he could even though his voice was raspy from the pressure I was putting on his vocal cords. "Tell them to start the task!"

Jaehyun appeared at the doorway with an amused smirk but didn't bother helping his friend and instead walked over to the microphone.

"Taeyong is a little bit... occupied at the moment." he paused and glanced at us. "The task starts now."

"We don't know what the task is, idiot!" I heard Yuta yell in frustration.

Jaehyun ignored my friends and sat down on the chair I was in previously. "Having a lovers quarrel?"

"Why aren't you stopping me from strangling him?" I asked curiously.

"It's fun to watch." he shrugged.

"Sicko." I muttered before turning back to Taeyong who was turning slightly red. I squeezed harder on his neck before letting him go.

His hand immediately went to his throat as he took deep breaths to get oxygen inside him. I stood up and opened a cabinet to take out bandages.

"I'm giving these to Jungwoo."

"You don't need to do that." Taeyong smirked up at me.

"Why not? He'll bleed out if it's not wrapped up properly."

"He won't survive the next task."

As if on cue I heard a gunshot and whipped my head around to look at the screen.

"He did it." Jaehyun said in amusement.

"Sicheng!" Yuta shouted in horror.

"Jungwoo..." Johnny steadied the boy as he stumbled backwards.

"Did Sicheng shoot Jungwoo?" I asked in disbelief.

"What the fuck did you do that for?!" Jeno yelled and held onto Jaemin who was crying from the shock.

"I-I had to..." Sicheng said quietly. "Taeyong threatened Yuta's life if I didn't shoot Jungwoo..."

He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket which I remember he had stuffed in there from the room where we were each given a note.

Yuta took it out of his hands and opened it. "It says Sicheng must shoot Jungwoo in the seventh room otherwise I'll be killed..."

I glared at Taeyong. "You're so fucked up, you know that?"

"I know." he said almost regretfully.

I looked around wildly for something - anything, that I could use to hurt these two monsters. I settled for a pen and was about to stab it at Taeyong but my wrist was grabbed by Jaehyun.

"Let me go!" I yelled and instead used my foot to land itself on Taeyong's jaw.

"Stop it Doyoung." Jaehyun warned. "I'm going to sedate you, I think it's time you went back to your friends."

"Don't you dare..." I struggled against his grip.

"Don't hurt him." I heard Taeyong say in a small voice, still on the floor holding his jaw.

"Taeyong fuck off man you need to snap out of your deluded fantasy that Doyoung will actually love you." Jaehyun snapped. "If it were up to me I would have killed off a lot more of them by now. Have you forgotten how those men raped and left you to die? There's no good people left in the world and these boys deserve to be killed."

"That's not true!" I continued to struggle. "My friends would never hurt a fly,  _you're_ the deluded one."

"I think Doyoung is right."

"You've got to be kidding me." Jaehyun sneered. "You're becoming weak Taeyong, remember the bad side always wins."

"What is this? A super hero movie? You're the deluded one Jaehyun." I spat.

He glared at me before stabbing my neck with a syringe filled with sedative.

"Have you seen the Avengers? The bad guy  _always_  wins."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need y'all to vote on if you want a 'happy' ending or a sad ending. Or I could write both? Idk, lemme know in the comments.
> 
> ALSO I HAVEN'T WATCHED AVENGERS ENDGAME YET SO LIKE DON'T @ ME FOR SAYING THE BAD GUY ALWAYS WINS LMAO AND DON'T SPOIL IT PLS!!!


	14. Chapter 14

**Doyoung's POV**

Once I woke up I groaned immediately and sat up from my awkward position on the floor. I felt like I'd just been thrown to the ground and not bothered to have been laid in a comfortable position.

"Thanks for laying me in a comfortable position guys." I said sarcastically.

"Why should we make you feel comfortable?" I glanced up at Yuta who was glaring at me and then looked at the others who were looking at me as if I were a monster.

"Why are you looking at me like that..?" I stood and stepped towards them.

"Did you have fun with your  _boyfriend?"_ Johnny sneered. "Your friends are dying -  _have died_ , but you're having fun with Taeyong while we suffer."

"No Johnny that's not what-"

"Save it." Jeno spat.

I stared at him with wide eyes. Never in a million years would I have expected Jeno talk to me like that.

"Jeno..."

"Jungwoo is dead, I'm telling you as you probably don't know because you were too busy doing other stuff. I had to shoot him." Sicheng added.

"Sicheng not you too... come on guys, you know I would never betray you. Taeyong tricked me into saying he was hot but you didn't hear what I said afterwards!"

"Save your lies Doyoung." Jaemin gave me a pitiful look.

I opened my mouth to defend myself but then closed it slowly with a sigh. They probably wouldn't believe anything I say anyway.

"The room will fill up with flames unless a specific someone does what they know they have to do." Jaehyun said.

I glanced up in confusion. Why was Jaehyun telling us the task instead of Taeyong? I felt unease bubbling in my stomach - something was definitely wrong.

"I bet it's Doyoung." Yuta sneered. "He's probably got to kill one of us."

"No I don't!" I protested. "I have no idea who it is or what they have to do."

"Well it's not me." Jeno shrugged.

"Guys please believe me, I didn't do anything bad with Taeyong." I begged.

There was a hiss and a flame erupted at the side of the room.

"Should we throw Doyoung into the flames?" Yuta suggested to the others.

I stared at them wide eyed as they considered his proposition.

Yuta didn't wait for an answer and grabbed my arm harshly, signalling for Johnny to do the same.

"Yuta..." I said desperately.

"Maybe this is what Taeyong wants, he's trying to turn us against each other." Johnny hummed.

I let out a strangled sound of relief. Thank fuck someone still had some braincells left.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" I panted heavily and looked at Yuta who was still holding onto my arm.

"Let go of my arm."

He glared at me before turning to the others. 

"It's either us or him, and he's the biggest threat to us right now."

"We have no proof that he will or is betraying us so let him go Yuta." Johnny ordered.

I grew tired of waiting for Yuta's next move so I kicked him in the shin, making him release his hold on me and yelp in pain.

"I was going to let you go!" he shouted in annoyance.

I glared at him. "You took too long."

More fire burst around the room and we drifted closer to the centre, which appeared to be the safest area.

I noticed a chair which had restraints on the arms and legs, much like the chair Yuta was sat in before.

"What's this doing here? Is this apart of the task?" I asked curiously.

"Seems so, but wouldn't someone have to be in the chair and we find the keys or something?" Jaemin questioned.

"That's what I would have thought." I mumbled in reply.

"Seriously, whoever is supposed to know what the task is, can you complete it already? The fumes from the smoke are killing my lungs." Johnny complained and held his arm over his mouth.

Just as more flames erupted, Sicheng ran to the chair and sat down, causing the restraints to close and lock him in.

"Sicheng what are you doing?!" Yuta ran up to him and desperately tried to remove the restraints.

"This is my task to complete, I was supposed to trick Doyoung into sitting here." Sicheng cried. "But I already killed Jungwoo so I deserve to die."

"No no no no, is there a way to open these locks? There's gotta be a key, right?"

"It's over Yuta." Sicheng said softly. "It's my turn to die."

"Don't say that." Yuta snapped. "I'm gonna get you out of here - you should have told me what you had to do so I could have actually thrown Doyoung into the fire!"

I stared at him in disbelief, anger rising within me.

"You need to get out, the flames will kill you." Sicheng raised his voice slightly, which was a rare occurrence. 

"Come on Yuta." Johnny urged.

"Sicheng!" he cried out.

"Go Yuta." Sicheng coughed. "I'll be fine."

Yuta refused to leave Sicheng by himself so I frustratedly went forward and grabbed his arm, not caring about hurting him.

"Come on you idiot, we've got to get out or we'll all die." I snapped.

"Leave me to die then, I don't want to live without Sicheng." he struggled against my grip.

I pushed him in front of me roughly, one hand on his wrist and the other on his back.

"Shut up you absolute moron, part of me wants to leave you here but I don't want to deal with the guilt of leaving you behind." 

We made it through the door and into the next room but we still managed to hear Sicheng's screams as he burned to death.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I have decided to do two endings, simply because I'm indecisive af so like yeah (; hopefully one of them will tickle your fancy hehe the bittersweet one will be posted tomorrow and the other ending the day after tomorrow~


	15. Bittersweet/Happy Ending

**Doyoung's POV**

"Huh? The door is open!" Jeno pointed across the room.

"But this is the ninth room, isn't there two left?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah..." I jogged over to the door and noticed the door at the end of the tenth room was open too.

"Run, just fucking run! This is our chance to escape." I ushered the others past me quickly and through the open door.

We ran out of the building and kept running until we reached a familiar park.

"He's probably hot on our heels, it doesn't make any sense as to why the doors were open." Johnny gasped out, struggling to catch his breath.

"Right? How strange." Yuta bit his lip. "What do we do now? Call the police?"

"Good idea." I pulled out my phone and was about to dial the number for emergency services when someone else's phone received a notification.

"I-I just got a text." Jeno stuttered out.

"So?" Jaemin peeked over his shoulder to look at Jeno's phone.

"It's from Mark."

"What?" I asked, not quite sure I'd heard him correctly.

"It's from Mark fucking Lee."

"Impossible." Yuta snatched the phone out of his hands before receiving a notification of his own.

He pulled the device out of his pocket and stared for a moment before his jaw dropped open.

"I'm dreaming... I'm dreaming aren't I? There's no way- I watched him die right in front of my eyes, I-"

Johnny copied his actions with his own phone and immediately burst into tears.

"Ten... my Ten is alive..."

"How?" I asked mostly to myself but was hoping someone would provide an answer.

"I have no idea but I don't really care, I need to see him in person to make sure this isn't some sick prank."

"I told Mark to meet us here, text everyone else to do the same." Jeno said.

About thirty minutes later there was a yell and Johnny immediately stood and ran over to Ten.

"Ten! How the fuck are you alive?! Is it really you?!"

"It's me stupid." he laughed. "Actually I'm just as confused as you. I woke up lying in my bed and it took me a few moments to remember what had happened."

"But you died... how did you come back to life?" Johnny shook him gently.

"I don't know Johnny." Ten replied. "But I don't care because I'm here with you."

"Taeyong." I muttered. "He did something..."

"Huh?" Jaemin cocked his head to the side.

"He can bring people back from the dead." I spoke louder. "He must have brought everyone back!"

"But why would he do that after killing us?" Ten asked.

"I don't know but that's what I want to find out."

"GUYS!"

We turned and saw Mark and Donghyuck running towards us.

"Mark! Hyuck!" Jeno and Jaemin jumped on them as soon as they reached us.

"Mark, it's good to see you." I felt a knot in my throat as I approached him.

"What about me!?" Donghyuck pouted.

"You too but it feels like it's been years since I've seen Mark... he was the first to die after all."

"I missed you too Doyoung." Mark grinned. "So what happened after I died?"

I was about to open my mouth to inform him when there was another shout.

"SICHENG!" Yuta yelled and jumped on his boyfriend. "I'm so glad you're alive."

"Now we're all back together." Jeno beamed.

"Except Jungwoo... will he have come back to life too?" Sicheng asked.

"I don't think so. If what I think has happened then I don't think we'll see Jungwoo or Taeyong ever again." I said.

"What do you think happened?" Yuta asked.

"I think he sacrificed himself for us."

"Weren't you going to call the police-"

"We don't have to." I started breathing faster and suddenly turned to run back the way we came.

I vaguely heard everyone following me but I didn't care, only focusing on the destination in front of me.

The building loomed into view but it looked different... abandoned.

"Oh fuck." I muttered and stopped to breathe, resting my hands on my knees.

"Was it this building? Where's the poster? It looks like this place hasn't been used in years." Mark questioned.

I ignored him and walked over to a piece of paper I could see flapping about in the wind, pinned to the wall.

I slowly reached up and pulled the note off the wall before reading it.

_Doyoung_

_I know you'll find this letter because you'll come looking for answers as soon as you find out your friends are alive. You're clever like that._

_So I did some thinking and decided you were right all along. What I'm doing is wrong and innocent people are dying because of me. I'm about to give myself up to the devil in exchange for your friend's lives. I'll be taking Jungwoo along with me too, and possibly Jaehyun if my soul is not enough for him._

_You're probably thinking: but why did it take me this long to figure out what I was doing is wrong? My answer is: I realised it because of you. You were the first person out of the hundreds I'd trapped in here to offer yourself up for a difficult task. I think you stole a little bit of my heart from me back then._

_But now you've taken my whole heart and I can't bring myself to kill any more of your friends. I hope you can forgive me, just like you promised you would when I asked you what I could do for you to forgive me. I don't think I'll ever be able to walk this Earth again but if I do, I'll be sure to come visit you straight away. I hope you don't mind?_

_̶I̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ I really admire you, Doyoung. I hope you live well and don't even think of trying out another escape room, there are other people like me out there._

_Love Taeyong_

"I'm sorry." Johnny placed his hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump and quickly wipe at the stray tear that had rolled down my cheek.

"You liked him didn't you?"

"No, I'm just... overwhelmed." I replied.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you probably are the reason all our friends are alive. I'm sorry for doubting you."

"It's okay, I probably would have doubted me too." I laughed and choked back a sob.

He walked back to the group that was standing awkwardly and staring at the building.

"Oh Taeyong..." I sighed, crumpling the note slightly.

I looked up to the sky, despite knowing he was deep down in hell at this moment in time.

"You did good." I smiled and blinked back the tears forcefully before turning back to my friends.

I took a deep breath. "Shall we go home then?"

Yuta put his arm around my shoulder and nudged me gently. "Let's celebrate."

"Celebrate what?"

"Being alive, and I want to apologise for before. You're probably heartbroken despite all of us happily being with our other-half so I want to make it up to you."

"It's fine." I shrugged. "I'm happy you all got your boyfriends back but... I sure as hell do want to drown my sorrows in some alcohol."

Jaemin laughed. "So do I."

"What sorrows? I've been next to you this entire time." Jeno eyed him.

"The sorrows of losing my friends, even though they came back... I just want to drink to be honest." he laughed guiltily. 

"Me too Jaemin, me too." Johnny sighed and held on tightly to Ten.

"Let's all go drink then, drinks on me!" Yuta yelled in excitement.

Everyone started talking in excitement while I took one last look behind me.

"Goodbye Taeyong." I whispered before smiling brightly and putting an arm each around Yuta and Johnny. "Let's go!"

 

\----

**Taeyong's POV**

"This is wrong." I said as soon as Jaehyun came back from dumping Doyoung into the room with his friends.

"What is?" he sighed.

"What we're doing - everything."

"I think it's a bit too late to turn back now Taeyong." he rolled his eyes.

"No it's not, I'm going to make Doyoung love me once and for all." I replied determinedly and stood up with fire in my eyes.

He smirked and stood up as well. "And just how are you going to do that?"

 "I'm going to go to the devil and ask him to bring his friends back to life, I'll give him mine and Jungwoo's soul in return."

"You do realise you won't be here for Doyoung to love you right?"

"I know, but at least I'll be at peace knowing he's forgiven me." I opened a drawer and pulled out a knife which was usually kept for emergency purposes.

"YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT TAEYONG!" he suddenly yelled. "What the hell am I supposed to do then?"

"Come with me." I suggested.

"And give my soul away? No thanks."

I shrugged and went into the next room where the newspaper clippings were. I braced myself and slid the knife into my heart, knowing this was the fastest way to get to hell.

"What a surprise Taeyong." a familiar voice brought me out of the darkness. "I've been expecting more souls but to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"I want you to free some of the souls I sent down here." I said once I'd stood up and faced the devil bravely.

He laughed. "Why should I do that? I was just about to send Jungwoo back up to you."

"I will give you my soul and Jungwoo's in return for the most recent souls you'd received from me."

He cocked his head to the side, a smirk playing on his face. "Is that all you can offer me?"

I gulped. "I-I'll give you a fresh new soul as well - Jaehyun, the partner I used to help me collect souls."

"Very well, I'll release them. You'll forever be in my debt though, you know that right?"

"Of course." I nodded, ignoring the sick feeling in my stomach. "I have one more favour - let me visit a human one last time."

"No." the devil snapped. "I will not allow you to have any more interactions with humans, except for Jaehyun."

"At least let me leave a note." I begged.

He pondered for a while before nodding and conjuring a contract out of mid air. "I will let you go to the human realm one last time, and I'll give you the power to remove all evidence of your wrongdoings there, you must make the building you used look abandoned. You will leave the note, collect Jaehyun and come straight back here. Understood?"

"Understood." I agreed and let him pierce my skin to complete the contract.

He clicked his fingers and I found myself lying on the floor of the room I'd recently killed myself in. Trying to stay as quiet as possible I peeked into the room where Jaehyun was. I clutched the knife in my hand and tiptoed up behind him.

"Taeyong? Wha-"

I cut him off by swiftly slicing the knife across his throat. His eyes widened and he stared up at me in horror. Without wasting any time I opened all the doors allowing Doyoung and his friends to escape.

Finally I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen to write down my last message to Doyoung. I had to write quickly as I could see the boys on the screens running out from the building and I knew I didn't have much time left until they'd come back.

I let out a sigh of relief as I finished up the note and ran outside to pin it to the wall where I knew Doyoung would look.

I ran back inside to grab a knife before clicking my fingers and watching the building turn into an abandoned ghost house. Now I just had to sit and wait for Doyoung to come back.

I watched from a distance, close enough that I could see Doyoung's expression but far enough so that he wouldn't spot me so easily.

He took the note from the wall and read it. Time seemed to move extremely slow as his eyes skimmed over the words.

"Come on Doyoung, show me a reaction." I muttered impatiently, knowing I could be dragged back to hell at any moment as soon as the devil discovered Jaehyun.

Johnny walked up behind him, causing Doyoung to wipe away tears which had escaped from his eyes while reading the letter.

I smiled triumphantly. If he was crying I was sure he had at least a small amount of feelings for me. I continued to watch him until Doyoung and his friends started to walk away from the abandoned building.

I was about to plunge the knife into my heart when he turned around suddenly, his eyes meeting mine. The breath got caught in my throat as he maintained eye contact and smiled. I couldn't hear him but I knew exactly what he had said.

"Goodbye Taeyong."

I stared at him for a few seconds, knowing I'd broken the contract but not caring as in that moment I felt an extreme sense of relief.

"Bye." I mouthed back before feeling myself being pulled into the darkness.

We'll meet again, in the afterlife.


	16. Sad Ending

**Doyoung's POV**

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Jaehyun yelled.

"JAEHYUN LET ME GO!" Taeyong yelled back.

Their struggle could be heard clearly through the speakers which they'd probably forgotten to turn off.

We all stared at each other in confusion, wondering if this was part of their act or if they were actually fighting. 

"I'm going to set them free." Taeyong said breathlessly followed by the sound of an object dropping to the floor.

"They will ruin EVERYTHING!"

"Jae I swear to God if you don't move-"

I snapped my head to the right when I heard a screeching sound from the other side of the room.

"Guys the door!" I whisper-shouted just in case it had been opened accidentally.

Johnny was first to bolt over to the door, with the rest of us on his heels. The doors to the other rooms were also open so we sped through them until we got outside.

"What the fuck just happened?" Jaemin said breathlessly while holding onto his side.

"I don't know but I don't want to wait around to find out." Yuta said grimly and we continued to run until we reached a familiar park.

"He's probably hot on our heels, it doesn't make any sense as to why the doors were open." Johnny gasped out, struggling to catch his breath.

"Right? How strange." Yuta bit his lip. "What do we do now? Call the police?"

"I think Taeyong let us out purposely." I said. "He was fighting with Jaehyun."

"It was about time he let us go, we already lost half of us. I don't care if he purposely let us out or not, I hope that fucker gets locked up in prison." Johnny snapped.

Jeno and Jaemin nodded in agreement while I stood watching helplessly as Yuta called the cops. 

I felt sad at the loss of my friends but I couldn't help but think Taeyong would be a better person if he was given a second chance.

"I want justice for our friends." Jaemin sobbed while Jeno comforted him. "I miss them."

"I miss them too Nana." I sighed out. 

"I bet you miss Taeyong too don't you?" Johnny glared at me. "You spent so much time with him, I find it quite suspicious."

"Will you drop it?" I snapped. "We've escaped, that's all that matters. I'd choose you guys over him any day of my life."

"It's not all that matters though, you were doing shit behind our backs." Yuta said as he ended the call. "Cops are on their way."

"I WASN'T DOING SHIT BEHIND YOUR BACKS!" I outright yelled at them this time. I could feel my cheeks heating up in anger.

They all stared at me in shock as I balled my hands up into fists.

"I'm starting to wish I did do something though." I whispered quietly so they couldn't hear me.

"Let's go back to the Escape Room and wait for the cops to arrive." Johnny suggested.

I glared at their backs as they began to walk back the way we came. I wanted to knock them all out and give Taeyong a heads up to escape, but I knew that wasn't possible.

Begrudgingly I trudged along behind them with my eyes glued to the ground.

"What the hell-" Johnny's voice made me glance upwards at the familiar shaped building, except it looked slightly different.

Yuta ran forward towards the doors of the building and peered inside.

"Is this the right building? Where's the poster? Why does it look abandoned?"

At that moment we heard sirens wailing and a few seconds later we were surrounded by cop cars.

"How are we going to explain this?" Jaemin whispered fearfully.

"Officers this building..." Yuta gestured upwards. "It was the building I told you about on the phone but something happened... I guess?" he trailed off hesitantly.

They looked at us sceptically but sent in a group of officers to search the building. Meanwhile a couple of them came up to us and started asking questions.

"Yuta is it? You were the one who made the call?"

Yuta nodded nervously and bit his lip. "I called as soon as I could. We were in there for a few days and watched four of our friends die."

"So four people were murdered..."

"Five people actually." I interrupted. "One of them joined our group because we didn't have enough people."

The officer nodded and wrote things down on his pad. "And what happened exactly?"

"Well you see... we saw a poster advertising for an escape room and decided to give it a try. However it turned out that the owner was a complete psycho and had fun watching us hurt ourselves."

The other police officer spoke up. "So you're telling me, that there was once an escape room inside this abandoned building?"

"Yes." I gritted my teeth as I could tell they didn't believe us.

"Can't you see from our clothes we've been through hell?!" Jaemin raised his voice. "We all have blood on our clothes, we look like shit... do you really think we're lying?!"

"We'll need to do DNA testing on the blood stains. Can you tell me the names of your friends that supposedly died?"

"Mark Lee, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul, Lee Donghyuck, Dong Sicheng and Kim Jungwoo."

Thunder crackled overhead and rain immediately began to pour down, soaking us through before we'd even moved to shelter. 

Jaemin burst into tears and cried into Jeno's shoulder. 

"Why don't you believe us? Can't you use a lie detector to see if we're lying or not?!" Yuta placed his hand on Jaemin's shoulder comfortingly.

"We'll have to wait for the team inside the building to come out with their report."

Yuta's face crumbled and he let out a sob. "I sh-should never have asked everyone to participate. Everyone would still be alive if I'd listened to you." he looked at Johnny.

"It's not your fault Yuta." Johnny said seriously. "I may have said escape rooms are stupid and easy but I agreed anyway because I wanted to show you guys how quickly I could complete the tasks. I was self-centred and an idiot."

"It was no one's fault for God's sake. How were we supposed to know what horrors laid inside there?" I said in frustration.

We remained silent until the officers returned and they announced that they hadn't found anything suspicious. 

No dead bodies.

No evidence.

Things weren't looking good for us.

They told us they'd put up missing posters for our friends and collect our belongings for DNA testing, but they wouldn't escalate the matter further due to lack of evidence. They didn't even say they'd look for the person who did this to us. All we could do was go home to our families and other friends.

Ultimately no one believed us. 

The five of us that survived were plagued with nightmares and flashbacks of the event. Survivors guilt was another major side effect. We were sent to counselling but for me it helped very little. 

I didn't blame anyone for not believing me, as I'm sure I would find it very difficult to believe someone if they told me what I'd told the police. There were times when I would feel extreme anger towards everyone including myself and wished it was all just a terrible dream.

Some days I would go back to the building to see if it somehow still there and that Taeyong would be waiting for me. I wanted so badly to ask him what the hell happened, but I was sure I already knew.

Ever since the event there has been tension between my friends and I. Even though they'd eventually said they believed me and didn't think I actually had anything going on with Taeyong... it felt awkward. 

I felt isolated.

I had been hopeful when I started counselling that my therapist would at least be a bit empathetic and believe what I was saying. 

But just like the others, she gave me the same pitiful look showing she was only thinking one thing:

That I was crazy.


End file.
